Opinion: President Trump not likely to leave North Korea Summit empty-handed

by Boris Epshteyn, Chief Political Analyst

(White House)

WASHINGTON (Sinclair Broadcast Group) - President Trump is doing something that no American president has ever done. He will meet in Singapore with the leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Un. The two heads of state are going to discuss, among other things, the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

President Trump put North Korea in a box when it came to negotiating this summit. The president understands that Kim Jong Un needs to come to the table more than the United States does.

The sanctions the United States and the international community have placed on North Korea are having a deadly impact on the country's economy.

Even China has not come to the rescue of its neighbor and usual junior partner.

That is why when President Trump pulled out of the summit, Kim Jong Un and North Korea put on a full-fledged charm offensive to get the meeting back on the schedule.

This gave President Trump a unique opportunity to work toward achieving safety for the United States and our allies in the region, South Korea and Japan.

We are definitely going to to see the negotiator-in-chief display his skills during this summit. The president will unleash the full force of his personality, which I can tell you firsthand, is a very powerful tool, to get what he needs from Kim Jong Un.

Here is the bottom line: President Trump would not be spending resources and allocating time to go to Singapore if he thought that the United States may be leaving the summit empty-handed. The key thing to look for from this summit is how much progress is made towards full North Korean denuclearization.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Boris Epshteyn formerly served as a Senior Advisor to the Trump Campaign and served in the White House as Special Assistant to The President and Assistant Communications Director for Surrogate Operations.